Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a vehicle panel structure.
Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2009-40079 describes a vehicle panel structure around a lower back provided at a rear end section of a vehicle. Briefly, in this structure, a lower back panel is configured including a lower back inner panel (joining member) and a lower back outer panel (panel member). Portions at both vehicle width direction ends of the lower back inner panel are bent substantially into a crank shape. Specifically, both vehicle width direction end portions of the lower back inner panel are formed with a wall portion that is bent toward the side of the lower back outer panel (referred to below as a “bent wall” for convenience), and a wall portion that extends from a leading end of the bent wall toward the vehicle width direction outer side (referred to below as a “flange” for convenience). The flange of the lower back inner panel is joined to the lower back outer panel by spot welding, and the join portion configures a weld portion (spot weld).
However, the vehicle panel structure described above has the following issue. Namely, in the vehicle panel structure described above, the weld portion is set in the vicinity of a boundary portion of the flange with the bent wall. The weld portion is therefore disposed offset in a direction normal to the plane of the lower back panel with respect to the lower back panel. Accordingly, when, for example, load input to the lower back inner panel is transmitted along the lower back inner panel toward the vehicle width direction outer side, a moment is generated by the load in the lower back inner panel about the weld portion. As a result, there is a possibility that deformation may occur at a portion peripheral to the weld portion of the lower back inner panel.